The House Strikes Again!

The house of major evil proposed giving me a stroke that would destroy all my major brain functions, but the house of minor evil instead suggested that all my attempts to blog be not recorded because Google Chrome had an Oh, Snap! moment (i.e. "crash") and of course, the minor house won.

I'll make this quick, as I just rented "Taken" and Liam Neeson may hurt me if I don't get to watching him. Today I learned how to bike commute successfully and how to transport mega stuff on my bike. I thought long and hard about what bike to get; in my heart I really wanted a road bike again, because they feel like a natural extension of my body. However, after driving around Corvallis for a while, I realized that this would be a bad choice. The roads here get a lot of rain damage and although it is a very biker friendly town, I am not sure I am confident enough in my "riding WITH traffic" skills to really bike it like that. Road bikes are fast and efficient, but very hard to get going from a stop because you have to fix your balance. If you are carrying a load that would be hard, especially on rough streets.

So I opted for a hybrid/mountain. It's not a hardcore BMX bike but it certainly could handle dirt and trails, and I've been tweaking it a little to actually do the opposite; I'm tightening it up to get a little more horizontal vector and a little less vertical. I've equipped it with a nice seat rack to carry stuff, and today I successfully travelled about 10 miles (6 of which were in the rain) with a full rack of produce, water, plunger, etc.

I have learned an important lesson about rain-- I need to buy some undershirts or something. It really chills you to the core when it's on your jacket and you are making a headwind on the bike. When I'm not riding, its fine, but the wind is cold. Although over all I think it feels very eco-friendly to bike-- I am really loving the idea of doing most of my major travels within the city that way-- it seems "right" or something. I mean, it's not for everyone, but it seems like a little way to do my "part" or whatever that is.

Anyhow. Enough about me. It's time for an evening with Liam....

Oh, in other news: I actually cooked something (what?!?) Yes, I got a slow cooker for $9.00 in CA and I proceeded to put cabbage and tomatoes and ACV into it. Yep. 7 hours later I had real German KRAUT of my own. The legit kind. Okay, so maybe the cooker cooked it. BUT I CHOPPED THE CABBAGE.